A 19-year-old Metairie man was booked with committing a hate crime after police say he punched a man who was walking hand-in-hand with another man in the French Quarter on Saturday night. According to records filed in Orleans Parish Criminal District Court, Jamie Hebert was arrested Wednesday, accused of knocking a man unconscious after a group of people he was with shouted anti-gay slurs at the victim.

Records show that on Saturday about 1:45 a.m., the victim and another man were holding hands and walking in the 700 block of North Rampart Street when a group of four people, three men and one woman, walking on the opposite side of the street shouted an anti-gay slur at them.

Police said the victim responded with, "Come over here and say that to my face," after which the group crossed the street and surrounded the victim. According to the record, Hebert, who was standing to the right of the victim, punched him with a closed fist to the left side of his face, knocking him unconscious.

The victim fell to the ground and the group, including Hebert, police said, fled across North Rampart Street.

Two bystanders witnessed the assault and saw a man flee the scene in a black Nissan Altima. They recorded the license plate number, which was later relayed to the police investigating the case.

Detectives tracked down the registered owner of the car -- a woman who said that it belonged to her daughter, records show. Police interviewed the woman's daughter, who admitted that she had been present with a group of friends at an altercation that Saturday.

While detectives were interviewing the woman, records show, Hebert showed up and was subsequently questioned as well. Hebert admitted that he had been part of the group that had gotten into a verbal exchange with the two men, and told detectives that the victim had flinched, causing Hebert to punch him, according to the report.

Hebert was brought into the 8th District police station where he was booked with one count of second-degree battery and committing a misdemeanor hate crime.

Hebert was being held in lieu of a $7,500 bond, according to the record.

In the state of Louisiana hate crimes are defined as any offenses committed against person and property because of their actual or perceived race, age, gender, religious, color, creed, disability, sexual orientation, national origin, or ancestry.